The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-18
NUMBER S5.

been without their poet. Spencer sings
of them in the following strain:
As when a swarme of gnats at eyentide,
out of the fenns of Allan doe arise,
wide
whites in the air their clustering army flies.
That, as a cloud. does seem to aim the skies:
No man, nor beast may rest nor take repast,
TIM the fierce northern wind, with blustoring
Doth blow them quite away, and in the ocean
And vet they have no misquitos. What
a pathetic song would he have sung had
he felt the fiery foot of genuine Missis-
sippi galhnipper. IL would certainly
have added 10 the poetic fervor OF his
song.
If now we come to the early life of the
mosquito we quickly perceive why
marshes and quiet pools are necessary
/ 10 its propagation. The first stage Of
/ their life Is passed in the water. There
they lay their eggs and there the infant
/ gnat luNurates. Their eggs, when laid
/ are packed together side by side. into a
| little oval, boat-shaped mass. of from
two hundred and fifty Ia three hundred
eggs. This boat is 80 buoyant that il
| viii float even during violent agitation
of the water. Ii never fills. and II pushed
/ 10 the bottom viii rise again unwet. The
\ grub isquiekly Matched and issues into
/ the water from the lower end of the egg
leaving the boat of empty egg shells "a
still float.
This larval form OF the mosquito Is "A
| curious creature. Though il lives in the
water il needs To breathe air, and to do
| so frequently comes Ia the surface, head
downward. AT the end of the body are
| large tubes, which end in a star-shaped
funnel of hairs, These take in the air
and convey IL Ia the spirades in the sides
| of the body. When not thus engaged
| the larva may be seen moving quickly
| about in "A jerky manner. A rain water
barrel Is often "A good place TO observe
| them.
The first change of the insect is from
| the larva Ia the pupa stage. The pupa
is also active instead of passive as in
most insects. IL swims by means of lit
| tie paddles at its rear extremity. Ii
needs To breathe also, but does so through
the head instead of the tail. There are
who little tubes ON the hack of the tho
raN, through which the air Is received.
Finally the last change comes on,
from the pupa 10 the image, or mature
state. The skin of the pnpa bursts and
a new head emerges from the opening.
Then the shoulders appear with their
| folded fimy wings. This IL "A critical
stage in the insects life. Should the
pupa skin which serves il as a boat, now
be overturned, and the wings become
wet il would all be up with our youth
full friend. But the wings quickly
spread The insect dainty steps from
its boat To the surface ofthe pool, and up
ON stands as on solid surface. A mo-
ment IL thus remains, then the wings be-
gin their rapid movement, the creature
rises into its new element the air, the
first note of its future tune Is heard, and
off il flies on It's errand of torment, 10
gather upon its devoted head the curses
of the human race.
Its life is not "A long one, but it il GER
tainly busy one, and single mosquito
can stir up more fury, profanity and
misery in given time than fifty times
its weight IN any other kind of living
creature. And there is no special gain
in its speedy death, since several new
generations appear each year, and IL
quickly has an heir To its duties and
| honors.
We all know something of the life his
| tory of this interesting creature. Happy
the man who has not figured in its his
tory. Thrice happy he who dwells afar
| from pools and swamps, and to whom
no envious West wind bears from its ma
tive haunts the soaring gnat. Tenfold
| blessed he whose nightly visions have
never been disturbed by the mosquitoes
monotonous monody, or by the vicious
dab with which he sends in his five
/ EOfN W AtIhs
| Yet nuisances as are our midnight Wis
| itors. we are in Paradise as compared
with the inhabitants of some parts of
| the earth. When we are told that mos
quitoes have driven back conquering ar
mics, depopulated flourishing cities and
even cleared country of the nuisance
of wild beasts, we may well imagine
that the slight torments that they inflict
| upon lis are trifiing in comparison with
their doings elsewhere.
| might tell countless travellers stories
| of the virulence Of foreign gnats, but n
| few sample incidents will suffice. South
| America seems to be particularly afflicted
| with the mosquito curse, and Humboldt
gives us an interesting account Of the
troubles of our southern friends. His
| observations were made along the low
lands Of the Orinoco, region that is
specially prolific in singing creatures.
In this locality they do not limit their
| visits TO the night, but keep at work for
| the whole twenty-four hours. When
one species of that gnat grows weary of
its labors. another quickly mounts
guard, as the people say, and only n
few moments of rest Is given for each
change.
Thus from half-past six in the morn
ing until five in the afternoon, the gonu-
| inc mosquito keeps actively at work.
| Then il disappears, and there is few
minutes relief, which is broken by the
advent of another small stiuging gnat.
| This amounts guard" till about seven
o'clock. Then, after a quarter hours
rest, there comes the Zancudo, "A species
/ of gnat with very long legs and dread
fully sharp sucker. This creature causes
acute pain, and produces a swelling
| which lasts for several weeks.
| In the Orinoco villages these insect
plaques form an inexhaustible subject Of
conversation. The common mode Of
| greeting, when two men meet IN the
morning Is How did you find the Zan-
cudos last night" How are we to-day
| for mosquitoesy
An old Indian remarked i'm pathetic
tones To the traveller: How comforta-
bile people must be in the moonl She
looks so clear and beautiful that she
must he free from mosquitoes" On an
other occasion an ancient missionary be-
walled "his twenty years Of mosquitoes
i'm America" Every sting leaves a mi
mute spot of coagnlated blood. and these
were so thick upon him as 10 hide the
whteness of his skin.
Some of the missionaries had built
themselves apartments on the limbs OF
lofty trees, To escape this torment. At
Maypures the natives took refuge ON
small islands i'm the midst of cataracts,
where the constant spray kept off the in
sects. Our naturalists found IL almost
impossible to write the record of their
observations. No one could be expected
To make a success of penmanship with a
bakers dozen Of mosquitoes seated airiiy
on every separate finger. In order to
get an opportunity 30 write they had e.
enter what the Indians well named their
| ''ovens." These were little chambers
without door or window, and entered by
a narrow passage, through which one
| haf ...I "A
first, to clear the place Of insects, "A fire
| was built of wet brush. which nlnlc Q